Proprioception is a conscious or unconscious awareness of a body part's position relative to another. Proprioception enables a person to move their body in a desired manner.
Learning a new skill, sport, or other activity can often include improving proprioception. For instance, as a person learns to play the guitar, the student improves proprioception of the relative position of the fingers. As an illustration, the guitar student learns to play typically while looking at his or her hands and slowly positioning the fingers to play the desired chords. However, as proprioception improves, fingering becomes easier and the student may eventually be able to play without looking at his or her hands.
Sports training can also include improvements to an athlete's proprioception. For instance, a soccer player can practice trapping, passing, juggling and other skills to improve proprioception of the feet and legs. Such training can improve the player's abilities, making the player's movements quicker, more fluid, and generally more effective.
Moreover, it has been shown that a runner's performance (acceleration, etc.) can be improved by increasing plantarflexion of the feet (increasing the angle of the foot away from the shin) during the running stride. In some cases, a runner can train themselves to increase plantarflexion by trying to consciously run with their weight shifted forward and/or attempt to consciously plantarflex more quickly while running. However, improving running performance in this manner can be slow and tedious and possibly ineffective. Accordingly, there is a need for athletic equipment that can improve proprioception and actively increase plantarflexion, for instance, to thereby increase running performance.